


The Wrong Choice

by TheCephalopodAgency



Series: Trust No One [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Betrayal, Episode: s02e04 Sock Opera, Gen, he's tricky like that, mabel makes bad decisions sometimes, maybe manipulation if you squint, what if bill got his way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 15:46:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14335791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCephalopodAgency/pseuds/TheCephalopodAgency
Summary: What if Mabel gave Bill the journal in Sock Opera?





	The Wrong Choice

**Author's Note:**

> I have nothing against Mabel. I watched the entire show for the first time last week and when I watched Sock Opera I couldn't stop wondering what would have happened to Dipper if Mabel gave up the journal.

Mabel climbed onto the bridge and peered into the audience, hoping her footsteps weren’t making too much sound, before running to the cake prop. Hopefully the journal was still inside. She leaned over the rail and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it. She couldn’t quite reach it, though. Narrowing her eyes at the book, Mabel carefully climbed over the railing and reached for it again, her fingers still not brushing against the cover. “Come on, come on…”   
  


Below, Dipper’s voice reached her ears. She winced at his delivery of the big kissing scene. It wasn’t exactly the best rendition of her voice, either. She tossed another look at the audience, relieved to see that people were still enjoying the show, and reached for the book again. Her hands were a little sweaty from the heat of the stage lights so close to her body, and her wet hand slipped, sending her tumbling forward with a yell.

 

She crashed into the cake and the rope must have come loose from the pulley system, because it started to fall at an alarming rate towards the stage, until it came to a sudden halt, much to her relief. Someone must have been up there and caught the rope, or it jammed in the pulley. If it was the latter, she would definitely need to fix it. The wedding was coming up fast.

 

Mabel wiped her palms on her skirt and started flipping through the book, not sure what to look for. “Come on, come on, there has to be a way to get Dipper’s body back.” Hopefully in time for him to play the reverend. He might not have been wearing his body, but at least his body was wearing his costume.

 

“Oho, but  _ why _  would you want to do  _ that _ ?” She gasped; the pulley wasn’t jammed at all. “Bill Dipper!” She narrowed her eyes. “ _ Bipper. _ ” Her brother’s body grinned eerily down at her. She had to squint to see him through the bright lights shining in her eyes. His own brown eyes were glowing yellow, with dark elongated pupils. How had she missed this earlier? She opened her mouth but Bipper held a finger to his lips and shushed her, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder, where Gabe was watching.

 

“You wouldn’t to ruin the show… woops!” He let go of the rope, letting her fall a few feet before pulling her back up again. “It’s slipping! How’s about you hand that book over?”

 

“No way! This is Dipper’s! I would never give it away!” Bipper’s arms were clearly straining to the hold the rope much longer. The cake was constantly bobbing up and down.

 

“Hmm, you didn’t seem to have a problem taking it for your own play, or ditching him when he needed  _ you _ .” A flash of guilt made her shrink back. “So come to your senses,” his grin melted into a frown, those creepy yellow eyes glaring- an expression that looked so wrong on her brother’s face. “Give me the book or your play is ruined.”

 

No! This was the only way to impress Gabe! Mabel looked at the book again, and then back to Bipper. Could she really do this? There had to be another way to save both Dipper’s journal and her show. There was a sharp jerk on the rope; his hands clearly had bad rope burn. A bit of blood was seeping into the rope. She really had no choice… WIth a sigh, she held the book out. Bill probably wouldn’t want to stay in Dipper's body forever, he could get it back whenever Bill was done with the journal. Not to mention he read it so many times, it was probably permanently imprinted in his brain anyway.

 

“There it is.” Bipper grabbed the book, leaving a dark stain of Dipper’s blood on the cover. “I mean, who would sacrifice everything they worked for just for their dumb sibling?” Bipper tied the rope to the railing and turned away, laughing.

 

“Wait!” He stopped, tiling Dipper’s head around like an owl. Mabel wasn’t sure if his neck was actually supposed to twist that way. “W-what about the play? You have the costume…”

 

“You’ll figure it out.” His head snapped around to the front again and he disappeared, leaving Mabel wondering if she just made a mistake. There was no time to think about it, she still had to fix the cake and she would just have to be the reverend. Mabel climbed out of the cake and untied it, ignoring the blood stains, and reached it to the pulley system. She looked around frantically for something to wear.

 

\---

 

‘Come on Mabel,’ Dipper thought. Despite being a ghost, or whatever he currently qualified as, his back was starting to hurt from lying on the ground with his body contoured to accommodate three puppets. Currently, he had Mabel and Gabe on his hands and Grunkle Stan on his left foot. In order to read the script he was lying half on his stomach and half on his side. In his best impression of Grunkle Stan, he said “I’m giving you away. You are a woman now. Waddles, the rings!” The pig ambled onto the stage with two rings in his mouth. Dipper still had no clue how she trained him to do that in such a short amount of time.

 

He suffered through their vows and finally, mercifully, the wedding cake descended from above. He perked up when he saw Mabel wearing the reverend’s coat she must have taken from his body when she stopped Bill from getting the journal.

 

“You may now kiss the bride!” Dipper mashed his hands together for hopefully the last time and tried not to flinch when someone set off the fireworks. His spectral limbs fell to the ground with relief when the curtains finally fell.

 

“That was great, Dipper!” Mabel climbed out of the cake and wrapped herself around the arm with the Gabe puppet, giving him a tight hug that made him wince.

 

“Where’s the journal? I am so ready to get out of this sock puppet.”

 

“Umm…” Mabel laughed nervously. “Sorry bro bro, I wasn’t able to get it.” Dipper stared at her for a moment, letting her words sink in.

 

“What?!” If she hadn’t gotten the journal, what was she doing? “But why are you back here?! You should be chasing my body!”

 

“I’m really sorry Dipper! I had to give him the journal or he would ruin my play!”

 

“You  _ gave _  him the journal?” Dipper felt his heart actually stop for a moment. He stumbled back, clutching his chest. He couldn't have heard her right. There was no way.

 

“I had to!”

 

“Mabel, he’s going to destroy it! I'm never going to get my body back now!” This was a nightmare, he had to be dreaming.

 

“We’ll get it back! He--”

 

“You chose some stupid boy over own brother! I trusted you!”

 

“Dipper--”

 

“Don’t talk to me!” He ripped the puppet off of his arm and threw it at the ground, fighting back the urge to cry. He thought about the page in the journal he was never going to see again. “Trust no one… yeah, I guess he was right all along…”

 

Dipper ignored Mabel calling his name and left. What could he do now? He was a soul without a body that nobody could see. Was he trapped like this forever? Would he eventually disappear? What would his parents say when he never came home?

 

It was so hard to keep a straight face. He hugged his knees and buried his face in his arms, taking deep, shuddery breaths until he calmed down.

 

\---

 

Mabel called for Dipper but the puppets stayed on the ground and she could just feel that he left. She debated on chasing after him, but she couldn’t see him. It would be like chasing a shadow in the dark. With a feeling that she’d really messed up, she sadly picked up her puppets and carried them off stage.

 

“Mabel!” She perked up when she saw Gabe backstage with a huge grin on his face.

 

“Did you like the show?”

 

“It was amazing.”

 

‘Yes! I nailed it!’

 

She forgot about finding her brother and followed Gabe, who was pointing out everything he liked about her show. Dipper always got over it when she made him mad anyway.

 

\---

 

He found himself floating back towards the mystery shack when he could finally breathe normally again. There wasn't really anywhere else to go. He wasn't sure what he would do when Mabel and Grunkle Stan came home. He really didn't want to look at his twin again for a while, if he even survived long enough to see her.

 

After every sacrifice he made to keep her happy, she wouldn't even return the favor when it really mattered? She cost him his chance with Wendy (even if he never really had one), got him fired from the pool, and now his body was at the mercies of the enemy. He could only guess what sick things Bill was doing to his body.

 

He didn’t have to guess for long. When he floated up the stairs to his and Mabel’s room, he nearly jumped out of his spectral skin when he saw the glowing cat-like eyes in the darkness. His body, still possessed, was reclining on his bed, grinning so widely he could see his own gums.

 

“You!” He shot across the room and jammed his finger into his own chest. “Give back my body--” His hand passed completely through his body, which only served to remind him of how powerless he was. “Oh, what’s the point? I’m not getting it back, am I?”

 

“Ha, don’t be like that, kid. It’s not a good look on you” Bill snapped his fingers and the journal floated out of his hands. With a wave of his hand, it opened in midair and the pages flipped to the one with his picture.

 

Dipper looked at the book with dismay. “Were you waiting for me to show up before destroying it in front me?” Bill tilted his head and made another motion with his hands. Several pages caught fire and burned, then the rest of the journal fell to the ground, unscathed.

 

“You know, I was actually thinking about throwing your body off the water tower after I destroyed the journal.” Dipper flinched, imagining his body broken and bloody at the base of the water tower. “Now I think It’ll be much more entertaining watching the fallout from Shooting Star’s choices.”

 

His hands balled into fists. Why did she betray him like that? Either oblivious, or more likely not caring about his inner turmoil, Bill continued.

 

“Every time I think I’ve figured you humans out one of you does something something completely unexpected.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “It must run in your family, now I think of it.”

 

Run in the family? Before he could ask, Bill hopped off the bed and somehow grabbed onto Dipper’s arm, flinging him spinning towards the middle of the room with a yell. He suddenly stopped spinning, upside down, and Bill patted his cheek.

 

“Tell you what, I’m feeling kind of bad for you Pine Tree. Take another look at the computer. I was going to let you find it yourself but I’ll give you another hint, free of charge-- look inside the panel on the back.”

 

“The back panel?” Like with the journal earlier, Bill snapped his fingers and the smashed computer flew towards them. It stopped mere inches from Dipper's nose. The back panel popped off and immediately he noticed a small gold-colored metal plate. “McGucket LABs?” Dipper pushed away from Bill and shook his head.

 

“I don’t get it-- I thought you wanted me to stop investigating? Why are you helping me now, after all that?”

 

“Just keeping up my end of the deal, kid. Well, it was fun, but I’m getting tired of inhabiting this weak fleshy body.” His hand shot forward to grasp Dipper’s and the computer crashed to the floor. A sensation he could imagine only dust felt when sucked into a vacuum took over his body and he was suddenly whole again. Any relief was quickly forgotten when his legs gave up on him and he hit the floor face first.

 

“Oh… ow… everything hurts…” he groaned. He rolled over and watched Bill, now back in his original form, wave at him before disappearing with a laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> It might look like he's being too nice, but I figured if he saw an opportunity to maybe earn some points with Dipper, he would take it. It would be hilarious if he could turn Dipper against his old friend Ford, after all. Also, watching the close bond between Dipper and Mabel shatter is kind of funny too. Something to watch while he waits for all the pieces to fall into place.


End file.
